The Universal Thread
by Oddchamp
Summary: (This is a sequel to "A Second Chance" and "To be a Hero", read those first!) With a new threat on the rise, three heroes must band together and find the four pieces of a mystical object known as the Universal Thread. This would be a very short tale, of course, if it weren't about Luigi, Prince Peasley and Dimentio. Will they be able to work together to save the world from peril?
1. Chapter 1

Prologue/Chapter 1: Another Day, Another (Deadly) Prophecy

Mario sat in his house, alone, drinking a hot cup of Koopa Tea. He knew he wasn't actually alone, seeing as Luigi, Prince Peasley (there on a visit for "Political Reasons", yeah right. And he just happened to have an afternoon free) and Dimentio were all in Dimension D, which, as Mario understood, was on the same longitude and latitude as his house, but on a different plane of reality- or something like that.

He also knew that someone named the Prince of Null and Void was on his way to take over the lovely little planet he lived on. Not a pleasant thought, but he had a funny feeling that was all Dimentio's fault, and just thinking about the masked creep brought the situation to mind.

Someone knocked on his door, rather impatiently. _Please don't be a Toad asking me to save Peach, not today at least,_ he thought.

He opened the door to find a young pale woman in a deep purple cloak leaning on a cane standing outside his door.

She let out a small gasp. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I must have the wrong address," she said.

Mario shrugged as if to say, 'That's fine.'

"I don't mean to trouble you, but do you know where Dimentio lives? I could have sworn I sensed his presence around here..." she said.

Mario gave her a suspicious look. _Why would anyone want to talk to him? I mean, besides to kill him_ , he thought.

He called into the house, "Dimentio! Someone wants to talk to you!"

There was no response. The woman stared at him. "Want to come in?" he offered.

"Sure, might as well," she answered.

The woman entered and leaned against the table. Mario noticed that she had several small cuts and bruises on the small amount of skin he could see.

"I'm Xylantha, by the way," she said.

Mario nodded. "I'm-"

He was interrupted by Dimentio teleporting into the room along with Luigi and Peasley. Peasley clutched his stomach and groaned. "Never again," he said. "Teleportation is not worth the nausea."

"Oh, Xylantha!" Dimentio said with surprise. "How'd you find me?"

"You're pretty easy to track," Xylantha answered. "Besides, that doesn't matter. You know why I'm here."

"Armageddon?" Luigi asked. When he got a strange look from Xylantha, he elaborated, "Prince What's-his-face is here?"

She nodded solemnly. "Like I said, I tried to stall and get the universal thread, but that failed." She gritted her teeth. "Which is a convenient segue to what I have to say. I'm very glad the three of you are here." She pulled a folded up piece of paper from her cloak. "Read this."

Luigi took the piece of paper and unfolded it. "Alright," he cleared his throat.

 _"As the abandoned prince rises above all,  
Soon will come his fall.  
Heroes three will gather the Universal Thread;  
The shackles of the cold prince will be shed._

 _First the forces of all things natural,  
Then the flames of the stars eternal,  
Third the life force kept around the hilt of a sword,  
Last the timeline of both worlds._

 _A grim face will finally avenge the long dead  
And the trio will fix the rip with the grand Thread."_

"It's a prophecy," Xylantha explained. "The last uttered by a prophetess who served the prince. I didn't get all of it, unfortunately. Shortly afterwards, he killed her for spreading panic among the people."

"Yikes," Peasley said. "Gives princes a bad name, though."

Xylantha shrugged. "Anyways, before I heard this, I tried to get ahold of the thread, but the prince had already gotten ahold of it and cut it into four pieces! Now he's spread ('spread' isn't the right word here, unless you describe where he spread them to. 'Commanded' would be a better fit.) four of his most trusted and powerful minions to guard the pieces in this realm, while establishing dominion in his name."

"Okay..." Luigi said. "Thank you for the warning, but what does this prophecy have do with us?"

"Well, what I was going to say was that I have reason to believe that you three," she motioned at Dimentio, Luigi and Prince Peasley. "Are the heroes of the prophecy."

Dimentio burst into laughter. "That's-That's rich! Me, a hero of this world or something!"

"I'm serious!" Xylantha said. "And, I'm especially certain you're one of them, Dimentio. I heard that when Clarence told the prince that you were here, he blew his top! He seems to have one massive vendetta against you."

"Well, that's just another brick in the wall," Luigi muttered. Dimentio glared at him.

"Okay, well what about Luigi and I?" Peasley asked.

"I was getting to that," Xylantha said. "People have been saying that the prophetess also had a vision of the three heroes. I heard she said there was 'One with lightning in his palms, a maskedcharlatan, and a handsome prince'."

"Okay, but that's just rumors! You 'heard', 'people have been saying', you're not sure about any of this, are you?" Dimentio argued. "I'm not going to go on some big quest to save the world just because some people think I should."

"That is so selfish!" Peasley said with shock. "In my opinion, you're more suited to this than either of us, considering how all of our enemies come from your world. Not only that, but even though I have my doubts, I'm still going. I'll be honest, not a lot of people in our world are very strong or brave. If we won't do it, who will?" He caught Mario's glance. "I mean, some people would, but that's besides the point."

Luigi shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. I mean, as long as I'm not gonna be brainwashed or possessed or something like that, I'm fine with it."

Dimentio felt like everyone was staring at him. He groaned. "Fine, but only because it would be a damn shame if some creep took over this place."

"Alright, that's great!" Xylantha grinned. She pulled another piece of paper from her cloak and unrolled it (-out-) on the table. It was a map of the Mushroom Kingdom and the land surrounding it. "I've labeled all of the current locations of the pieces of the Thread, and in what order the prophecy said to get them in. I'd suggest you get started now, but if there's anything you need to get done beforehand, do it now because this may take a damn while."

"Actually, I have a couple questions," Luigi said.

"Of course, go right ahead," Xylantha said patiently.

"Yeah, what is the Universal Thread? Is it some magic piece of string?" Luigi asked.

Xylantha blinked and then rubbed her hands together. "I never explained that. Huh," she shook her head. "The Universal Thread is, as you guessed, a magic piece of string. You see, the Thread is fabled to be one of the last remaining artifacts of the creation of all things. It's supposed to be the only thing that can fix parts of reality that are broken, such as a wormhole. Not only that, but anyone who holds it has their magical abilities increased to the point where they're almost a god (. It took me forever to find where the damn thing was hidden, but when I got there, it had already had been taken by the prince's lackeys, and...you get the point."

"About the prince, why's he so bent on world domination and all that? And why does he call himself the 'Prince of Null and Void'?" Peasley asked. "I don't mean to be a bother, but you're sending us into this blind."

"It's fine. Both of those questions can actually be answered with one story. About a year ago, a horrible void appeared in the sky. At first, we just saw it as an astronomical anomaly, but as time wore on, the void grew. People only began to panic when we noticed the planet closest to the void had been sucked inside. Just when we thought all hope was lost, the void vanished and everything was replaced, good as new. Not a day after the void disappeared, the Prince of Null and Void appeared, claiming that he had stopped the void from consuming all worlds, and that he would unleash it again unless everyone fell to his empire."

Luigi, Dimentio, and Mario looked at each other. They all thought, by pure coincidence, _She doesn't mean the void made by the chaos heart, does she?_

"Say, was this void black and purple around the edges?" Luigi asked carefully.

"Well, yes, I think so," Xylantha answered. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Dimentio said quickly.

Xylantha rolled her eyes and muttered something. "Well, if you don't have anymore questions, I'll be off. Good luck!" She walked out the door without another word.

"Okay then," Luigi said. "Just had a quest laid on us with no warning, but that's fine. I can deal with that."

"Don't worry, it won't take long. He's obviously a fraud, so the most difficult part of this will be taking out his four major lackeys," Dimentio said smugly.

"Well, before we set off I need to let my posse know where I'm going," Peasley said. "I'll be back in a moment!" He ran outside, and, with a clap of his hands, summoned the flying bean that he rode on and flew off.

"You sure you'll be alright?" Mario asked Luigi.

"Yeah, of course. You don't need to send anyone to watch me this time," Luigi said with a hint of snarkiness.

Mario turned bright red and looked away. "I was just making sure," he muttered.

"Well, you won't need to lug around a suitcase this time; we can keep everything in Dimension D," Dimentio said.

"That reminds me!" Luigi said. He ran from the front room to the bedroom and returned with a pair of metal gauntlets. "I repaired and improved my transference gauntlets!" He slid them on over his normal gloves with a grin. "Now they're three times as light, with twice the power."

Peasley returned in that moment and ran inside the house. "Okay! I'm ready," he announced giddily.

 _Why do I get the feeling the conversation consisted of Peasley saying 'Oh, hey, I have to go on this quest to find some magic string, prohecy demands it, see you in a few days!'_ Luigi thought.

"Well, I'm glad," he said instead. "Let's see where we're going first." He rolled out the map.

In bright green pen, written in hard chicken scratch penmanship, was "GO HERE FIRST! #1" with an arrow pointing to a circle in the middle of Gloomy Woods, north of Princess Peach's castle.

"Alright, easy enough," Peasley said. "Luigi and I can ride on my flying bean to get over there, and Dimentio, you can just fly, right?"

"Of course," Dimentio said. "But will both of you be able to fit on that tiny thing?"

"Well..." Peasley put his hand around Luigi's waist. "If we stand really close together, I'm sure we'll be fine."

Luigi's face flushed pink. He cleared his throat and muttered, "Yeah, hm, sure..."

Dimentio clenched his fists and ground his teeth as subtly as he could. _Keep control, Dimentio, it's not your place to be envious,_ he thought. _After all, he's a fool and won't last long against anyone from your world._

"Well, Mario, wish us luck!" Luigi said, disrupting Dimentio's thoughts. He shoved the map in his front overall pocket.

* * *

There was quite a surprise awaiting the trio in the Gloomy Woods: the woods had nearly doubled their size since Luigi had last been there, and were now more jungle than forest. The dark plants crowded for space to the point where there was hardly any place to walk, and even then there were smaller plants that were just now joining the race for nutrients and light.

A small group of toads was standing outside the forest nervously when the trio arrived. They muttered among themselves until one of them shouted, "Hey, it's Mario's brother, and Prince Peasley! Maybe they're here to help!"

As the flying bean came to a gentle stop, Luigi and Peasley hopped off. Dimentio floated cautiously behind them.

One of the toads, a blue-capped one, ran up to Luigi and said, "Do you see the Gloomy Woods? They're huge! One minute they were normal sized, and the next, they were like that!"

"What?" Luigi asked, astonished. "Just now?"

"Yeah! It's been going on, too. They've been growing like that for at least an hour," the toad said, wringing his hands. "Other people say they've been growing since that weird guy wandered in-"

"Weird guy? What weird guy?" Peasley asked.

"This...guy! He was really tall, and if he had really stood still, you wouldn't have been able to tell him from a tree," the toad described. "None of us got a chance to talk to him... We were, you know...too scared..."

"That's fine," Luigi said quickly, before any snide remarks could be made by his partners. "Did you see him holding anything, I don't know, string like?"

The toad gave him a weird look, then said, "Uh, I think he had something like that wrapped around this staff he carried around, but I can't see why that's important..."

"Okay, thank you!" Luigi said quickly. He turned to Peasley and Dimentio. "Let's get going, and fast."

The other two nodded and followed as Luigi stepped into the deep, dark woods.

* * *

Travel through the woods, for the most part, was quiet and eerie. Little sunlight dripped from the sky through the leaves and branches, making it dark and cold despite the weather outside the forest. The trio stepped carefully through (in Dimentio's case, floated) the foliage, trying to make as little noise as possible, as it was very probable they could run into whoever had the Universal Thread at any minute.

 _How did this even happen?_ Luigi thought. _I've never even seen some of these plants before..._

"Hold on," Peasley whispered, gently pushing aside part of a bush. "I think I see something over there..."

Luigi and Dimentio looked where he was looking. A Spear Guy was jumping to reach his spear that was tangled in vines a good few feet above his head. Dimentio opened his mouth to say something when the Spear Guy suddenly fell over, another vine wrapped around his ankle and slowly dragged him upward. The Spear Guy made loud noises of distress before the vine suddenly yanked him out of sight. The screaming increased in volume until there was a horrible crunch. Then there was silence.

"...What the hell was that?!" Luigi asked in quiet horror.

"It seems the plants are becoming animated," Dimentio said. "Whoever made the forest grow must have given it consciousness, too."

Peasley shuddered. "But why would they want to kill the people that just live in the forest? What have they done wrong?"

A metal spearhead grazed the prince's cheek and hit a nearby tree. The trio collectively reeled their heads and saw that it was the same spear that had been taken from the Spear Guy, now wieldedlike a harpoon by a vine.

Peasley quickly drew his sword and sliced through the animated plant, making it shudder and droop. He touched his cheek where he had been hit. When he looked at his hand, his glove had been dyed red with blood.

"Okay, so they don't like us either," Peasley said. "Good to know."

Ten more vines descended from the treetops, some holding spears or spearheads, others armed with natural spines. They moved at a deceptively slow pace, swaying and creeping like the growth of the forest around them. Peasley raised his sword, Luigi's gloves smoked with fire, and Dimentio prepared a magic missile.

In a split second, the vines shot out. As a reaction, the trio attacked back. This would have gone fine, if Luigi hadn't been using fire. For some reason, the logic that if they were animated plants, they wouldn't catch on fire occurred. This was proven wrong when three of the vines lit and started writhing and reeling in pain, smacking into other plants, making them burst into flame. Soon, the trio was surrounded by fire and smoke.

"Okay, run!" Luigi yelped and shot off. Peasley and Dimentio quickly followed.

The vines seemed to be too distressed about the fire to follow the trio, which only helped a trifle. It was still nearly impossible to navigate the forest, and the difficulty was doubled by the smoke and haze. For such a moist environment, the fire spread with shocking speed. Even after they cleared the fire, they kept running to ensure they kept ahead of it. They only stopped when they arrived at a large circular clearing.

In the exact center of the clearing, an impish girl with dark skin and bright green curly hair sat on a mossy rock, gently tuning a guitar. She seemed entirely unaffected by the fire or the sudden arrival of the trio, and smiled softly to herself.

"Do you think she has the thread?" Peasley whispered to Luigi after a long silence.

"No, she's way too small to be what that toad described. She's barely as tall as you," Dimentio said.

Peasley gave him a puzzled look, as if to say, 'What's that supposed to mean?'

"Well, keep in mind, everything's tall and terrifying to toads," Luigi said. "Besides, what sane person willingly spends time in the Gloomy Woods unless they're up to something?"

"Okay, but what should we do? Just ask her if she has it?" Peasley asked.

"Hey, you, over there with the guitar!" Luigi called cautiously, and took a step forward. "Do you have the Universal Thread?"

"No, that's not what I- Okay, then," Peasley sighed.

The girl raised her head and stared at them with big green eyes. She went back to tuning her instrument.

"Maybe she doesn't speak the language," Luigi said.

"Well, our language is almost exactly the same as yours, so there's no reason she shouldn't understand you," Dimentio said. "She may be deaf."

"She has a guitar, there's no way she's deaf," Peasley said.

"I can hear you, you know," the girl said just loud enough to be heard.

The trio froze. The girl hadn't looked up and was still concentrating on her guitar as if she hadn't spoken in the first place.

"I don't have the Thread. Although..." she murmured. "I can tell you where it is."

"Really?" Luigi asked. "That would be great, because-"

He caught Dimentio and Peasley's glares. He stepped back. "Okay, what?"

"Can we trust this girl?" Dimentio asked. "I mean, we don't even know-"

"It's Natura," the girl interrupted, still not watching them.

"...her name," Dimentio finished. _Okay, that's an odd coincidence,_ he thought.

"You know, I didn't mean to literally ask if she had the Thread," Peasley said.

Luigi shrugged. "Well, , it's the polite thing to do. I mean, we have no idea who has it," he pointed out. "Besides, what have we got to lose by listening to her?"

"Time, and we could literally get lost," Peasley responded. "Listen, we have to do this carefully. We know nothing about our enemy besides the fact that they're an enemy and that they're powerful enough to take over an entire planet."

"And his vendetta towards your masked companion," Natura added from her rock.

Peasley snapped his head to the side to look at her. "How did-"

She laughed, interrupting him. "If you'll listen to me, I'll tell you."

The prince rubbed his forehead, frustrated. "Alright, sure, fine." He glanced at Dimentio. "What do you think?"

"I'm curious now, so why not?" Dimentio said.

The trio cautiously came to the center of the clearing in front of Natura, who was now playing a graceful tune and humming softly.

Natura smiled, still not looking up. "You've come to a decision? Good." She placed her guitar on the ground and put her hands in her lap. When she wasn't wrapped around the instrument, she looked much more gangly. "So, first I'll tell you about who holds the Nature Segment." She paused when she received confused looks. "That's what this piece of the Thread is called. When the Thread was cut, the four elements of the thread- Nature, Flame, Life Force, and Time -went into each piece. The one you're looking for is the Nature Segment.

"Anyways, I can't name any names- I reluctantly work under the Prince myself, -but Dimentio, you know who has this Segment, as well as the Flame Segment. You can take a guess at who they are," she said.

"How do you know his name?" Luigi asked.

"You haven't guessed it already? I'm slightly psychic," she said, lifting part of her poofy hair to show an illustration of an eye on her forehead that blinked and glanced around.

"Eugh!" Luigi shuddered at the sight. Peasley's face paled and he gripped Luigi's hand.

The girl giggled and let the hair drop back down. "Thought you'd see it that way," she smiled. "I'll let your masked friend tell you about who holds the Nature Segment, but I want to give each of you some advice. If you keep it in mind, you can easily avoid a lot of strife."

"First, you, Luigi: you will need to keep the peace in this trio. To do this, you cannot assume or take anything for granted. If you do, it makes you look apathetic. Second, Peasley: Be patient, not only for time but with your emotions. If you let rashness overtake you, you may bring doom to this quest. And lastly, Dimentio: be careful of what you do and what you say. You can't fix the past, but you must make things good for the future and present."

There was a long silence. "What the heck are we supposed to do with that information?" Luigi demanded..

Natura sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Whatever you think you should," she said, picking her guitar up . Soon she was playing her tune again and humming as if they weren't even there.

Luigi shrugged and led the group on.

* * *

"So, she said you knew who had the Nature Segment...?" Peasley commented in hopes of an explanation after they were far from the clearing.

"Well, I wouldn't take her word for it," Dimentio snapped. "For all that we know, she's completely insane."

"Hey, look, the trees aren't growing as quickly here, and there's no more smoke coming from the fire," Luigi interrupted. "How do you think that happened?"

Glad to be on a different subject, Dimentio supplied, "Perhaps because the vines are sentient, they put out the fire in some manner."

(The truth of the matter was that the toads outside the forest had noticed the huge column of smoke and put out the fire themselves. Even though the toads were cowards, they hated to see needless destruction.)

"Well, supposing Natura was right, do you know who she was referring to?" Peasley tried again.

Dimentio glared at Peasley for a second and then muttered something.

"What was that?" Peasley asked, now frustrated.

"I said, the Gladesman," Dimentio repeated irritably.

"Oh, you've mentioned him to me before," Luigi said. "That makes sense, he taught you that thing with the flowers."

Dimentio clenched his fists. "It seems too uncanny, though. The Prince just happened to know him and trust him enough to give him a piece of the Thread, as powerful as it is?"

"My point is, if you know him, you should know his weaknesses, right?" Peasley clarified. "Or, at the very least, should be able to ask him nicely for the Thread."

Dimentio laughed without humor. "You would think that, wouldn't you?" He scowled. "I didn't exactly leave his company on good terms."

"Well, what's that supposed to-" Peasley started.

He was interrupted by three earthshaking THUMPs, like those of falling trees. Something large loomed menacingly, too far away to define, but close enough to be a threat. Seconds after the noise, soft green light came from the ground as the foliage began to slowly creep skyward. The figure shuffled onward in no specific direction, until it was out of sight.

"You think that could be him?" Luigi whispered.

"...It's likely," Dimentio admitted begrudgingly.

"Let's follow him," Peasley ordered, unsheathing his sword.

Dimentio threw himself in front of him. "No! That's a terrible idea!"

"But Dimentio, you said that guy's a coward," Luigi remembered. "Shouldn't this be no problem then?"

Dimentio ground his teeth. "That was...in the moment." _Not only that, but I thought I would never see the bastard again_ , he thought.

"We shouldn't fear some guy who can make trees grow," Peasley retorted. "We need to get that Thread so we can save this world! Now, do you know any way we can get the jump on this guy?"

There was a long uncomfortable pause. Then, Dimentio reluctantly said, "He's blind."

"...Really?" Luigi asked.

"Couldn't see a thing to save his life," he confirmed. "But, he does have good hearing. So if we are going to sneak up on him, we'll need to be silent."

"I have a suggestion, but you're gonna hate me for it," Luigi said.

 _I already hate this altogether and it's only the first day,_ Dimentio thought. Instead he said aloud, "Go on."

"You're the only who can float, Dimentio," Luigi said. "If any one of us can do stealth, it's you."

"That is true," Peasley agreed before Dimentio could argue. "The toad from earlier said that the Thread was wrapped around his staff, so you could float up behind him, grab the Thread, and get out. He'd be none the wiser!"

Dimentio took a deep breath. "Fine, I'll do it. But you two owe me for this!"

* * *

The Gladesman wandered about the woods, leaning on his staff of a living tree. Indeed, the Thread was wrapped around its bark, but how else was he to protect it? The Prince of Null and Void- the protector of all, practically a god, -had trusted it to him, so it was a priority above all else. Not only that, but now he could give Nature back the land it rightfully owned from the ungrateful people who ripped the life away to make pavement and settlements.

Though, now he had a bizarre, yet familiar feeling of being watched. Like a predator... No, more like a trickster waiting for the right moment to strike.

He shook the feeling off. Dimentio had left a long time ago, and had probably been killed and tossed in a gutter somewhere. Perhaps the Thread was getting to him. He had heard tales of how it turned men mad.

Just as that thought left his head, he felt a sharp tug on his staff. He whirled around, drawing a sword from inside his cloak.

"Who's there?"

* * *

Peasly and Luigi had watched from afar as Dimentio snuck up behind the Gladesman. He was, as he had been described, easily mistaken for a tree. He was tall and broad, with dark skin and long lichen-esque hair. Over his shoulders dragged a long cape that could have been made from moss. His shirt and pants seemed to be made from tan wool.

It had all been going great until the blind man twirled around, drawing a sword at least as long as Bowser was tall.

"Who's there?" he whispered hoarsely as cataract-smeared eyes stared at the sky.

Dimentio had nearly been stabbed just from the weapon being drawn, but he stood still as a statue, gripping the glowing green Thread.

"Answer me, thief!" he ordered. "You don't know what you've taken!"

The woods were silent save for the occasional chirping of birds. Dimentio slowly backed away from the Gladesman, floating gently. When he took a quick glance backwards, his ankle hit a root and he tripped noisily and fell.

In a quick slash, the tip of the sword was in Dimentio's face. "There you are," the Gladesman growled. "Identify yourself, thief."

"An old friend?" Dimentio said nervously.

The Gladesman's face dropped. The sword trembled in his hand. "Hm. I'd heard the prophecy, but I didn't think it was true," he rumbled.

"Well, neither do I, to be honest," Dimentio said. "But you could help me out a great deal and just...let me go with the Thread?"

The Gladesman's face screwed up. "No." A smile worked its way onto his face. "Unless you can help me with a theory of mine." He reached into his cloak with his free hand and paused. "Are the other members of your trio here?"

Dimentio glanced quickly behind at Luigi and Peasley. They offered no solution. "...No," he said carefully.

"Perfect." He tossed a small bottle to Dimentio. It was filled halfway with a green-purple liquid.

"What's this?"

"Poison," he answered gruffly. "The prophecy says three of you stop the Prince, so, if there's only two of you, maybe you can't succeed."

Dimentio tensed up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Do you want me to kill myself so you can prove some theory?"

The Gladesman laughed, surprising the whole trio. "Not necessarily, friend! Just one of your group. Perhaps you could slip it into a drink or something?" His blind eyes darkened. "Besides, it's not like you haven't ended lives frivolously..."

Dimentio jumped to his feet, his hands balled into fists, one still gripping the Thread. "I was not being frivolous, and I think you know that." His hands started glowing with magic. "Anyway, I'm not going to poison anyone of my group!" He threw the bottle on the ground. It exploded, sending glass flying and killing plants within a yard-wide radius.

 _Couldn't you have just faked your own death and then attacked him when his guard was down?_ Peasley thought. _No, go ahead, be like that. Be overdramatic._ (

The Gladesman's lip drew back in an animalistic snarl. "Fine. was willing to let you go, but you've made your decision!"

"I have one more thing to tell you, before we fight," Dimentio said viciously. "I was never alone. My companions are right behind you!"

The Gladesman's eyes widened. He whipped around and slashed his sword at thin air. "Fight me you cowards!" he growled.

Dimentio floated quickly through the brush to Luigi and Peasley and whispered, "Go! Go, while we still can!"

The trio only got a few steps before the Gladesman's sword landed in the middle of a tree only a few inches from Luigi's face.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?!" he bellowed.

 _Well, if you just toss your weapon out of reach, then yes,_ Peasley thought, unsheathing his rapier.

Peasley slowly walked around toward and to the left of the Gladesman, and motioned to Luigi to go to his right. If Dimentio could keep him distracted while he and Luigi got the jump on him, they could finish him off quickly.

A sudden pang of guilt hit him. They were attacking a blind man, who didn't even know if they were there or not. He was practically defenseless, and they already had what they wanted. _He attacked us and he's hurting the people who live in these woods,_ he thought. _Just because he's blind doesn't mean he can't be a threat._

The Gladesman turned and looked directly at Peasley. He cocked his head and had a look of vague concentration. He flicked his wrist and hit his staff against the ground.

Glowing vines shot down like spears from the forest canopy and almost hit Luigi, who yelped in surprise. The Gladesman grinned wickedly as he turned around to face the source of the sound. "There you are," he rumbled.

Peasley ran up behind the Gladesman's back, bringing his sword arm as he ran. He had to act quickly if he wanted to prevent Luigi from getting hurt, or worse. A split second before he was to stab him in the side- hoping to injure, to get his attention, maybe not kill, -a ball of purple magic hit his target in the arm, knocking him to a different angle. Peasley didn't have time to readjust before his sword slid through his chest.

Blood spurted on to his face and neck. The Gladesman looked down at him with an expression of shock and confusion. He then toppled over backward, taking Peasley's sword with him.

"...Yikes," Luigi muttered.

Dimentio floated over with a blank expression. He stared at the body silently.

"I... Dimentio, I'm sorry," Peasley said quickly. "I knew he was your friend, and I only meant to hit his side, but he moved-"

"It's fine," he interrupted, not looking up. "I'm not upset."

Peasley stood still, unsure of what to say. He had expected rage, sadness, something harsh, but not...this. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes." He shook himself and looked straight ahead. "Just...shocked. I had never thought I'd see the Gladesman...dead. Skewered like a kabob, as it were."

"Oh, okay." Peasley said.

He grabbed the handle of his sword and tugged it. It stayed put. He pulled harder, putting his back into it. "Must be stuck in his sternum," he muttered. _It's almost a miracle it got through the bone in the first place,_ he thought as he tried taking it from a different angle.

When the sword finally broke free, Peasley sighed in relief. It was hard enough to have killed someone's friend, and having to remove the weapon didn't help the tension.

"Do you still have the Thread, Dimentio?" Luigi asked.

Dimentio held up the small green string. "Right here."

"You know, I thought it would be bigger," Luigi remarked. "I mean, that rip we saw at King Boo's mansion was pretty big, and probably hasn't gotten any smaller."

"Maybe the Thread gets bigger when it's with the other pieces?" Peasley suggested.

"Maybe," Dimentio agreed. "Speaking of the other pieces, are we done here?"

Luigi nodded, but Peasley said, "I'd like to wash off my face before we go anywhere else. It might give people the wrong idea, with all the blood."

"I understand," Dimentio said, crouching. He pried the Gladesman's staff from his dead hands, then sent it to Dimension D.

"What'd you do that for?" Luigi asked, not unkindly.

"Just... A memento," he answered.

* * *

Back in the clearing, Natura watched the trio go by again, this time unseen in the shadows. She heard a passing whispered conversation:

"What do you think the Gladesman meant when he said that Dimentio had 'frivolously killed'?"

"He probably meant the whole Count Bleck thing."

"But you never mentioned him when you told me about it... He wasn't there for that. He might not even have known Dimentio was involved!"

"...Then I don't know. Don't worry about it, though. I'm sure it's nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: Hellfire

"That's odd," Luigi muttered, looking at the map Xylantha had given them.

Peasley took his face out of a forest stream, finally getting the last of the blood out of his hair. "What's odd?"

"The next piece of the Thread is apparently right on top of Bowser's castle," he answered, showing him and Dimentio the map.

"Isn't it the Flame Segment?" Peasley asked. "It would make sense, considering Bowser's affiliation with lava and fire."

"Yes, but why would he be working for the Prince of Null and Void?" Dimentio asked.

Luigi shrugged. "We'll just have to see, I guess." He caught an odd look of worry on Dimentio's face. "What's wrong?"

"Well, we're going to Bowser's castle. Unless you said something- and as far as I know, you haven't, -he doesn't know I'm alive and that I'm...on your side," he explained. "Not only that, but the Thread is said to make you more powerful... Imagine Bowser, but powered up to have total control of fire in any form!"

"Hold on, how many people know you're alive, Dimentio?" Peasley asked.

After a moment, Dimentio said, "Including you two, six people, and a small village of toads."

Peasley rubbed his eyes. "And why is that?"

"I would be dead by now if it wasn't this way."

"Of course," Peasley said, words dripping with sarcasm. "That's just fine." _I'm walking around with a man who has an unspoken bounty on this head,_ he thought.

 _If you keep that tone up, I'll be tempted to cover you in your own blood,_ Dimentio silently threatened.

"Um, Bowser's castle is pretty far to the southeast from here, so we should get going," Luigi said nervously. _Peasley and Dimentio are like a time-bombs waiting to go off!_ he thought, wringing his hands. _I hope this won't interrupt the quest, but I get the feeling this is going to get worse before it gets better._

"Yes, yes, let's be off," Dimentio said pleasantly.

Peasley nodded, temporarily shaking off his frustration. "Indeed."

* * *

The trio flew in the same formation as before until the castle was in sight, then settled into walking to avoid notice. It was weird enough going through Bowser's kingdom, but perhaps- Luigi hoped, -it would be one of those days where no one would notice them, or, if they did, wouldn't know who they were.

However, the area around the castle seemed oddly...empty. Even as the castle gained color and became defined, it was deathly silent. It was eerier than the feeling of being watched that usually pervaded the place.

The silence was broken by a far off explosion.

"There! Off the lowest tower!" Peasley pointed at the smoke. "They've shot cannons at us!"

Luigi peered at the castle. "Hold on, I don't think that's a cannon. I think something was shot through the roof."

"Or someone," Dimentio said. "Though, that's not the shape of a Bullet Bill or a Bob-omb."

After a moment of looking, Luigi said, "I think that's-"

Peasley dragged Luigi out of the way and Dimentio teleported off as Larry the Koopaling hit the ground face first.

Larry slowly got up, rubbing the back of his head. "Ugh, who was that lady?" he groaned.

"Larry? Are you...okay?" Luigi asked carefully.

The Koopaling whirled around to look at him. "Hey! Are you with that crazy lady in red armor?!"

Luigi and Peasley looked at each other. "Uh, no," Peasley said, confused. "Who are you talking about?"

Larry's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "This...lady! She just waltzed into the castle, and asked to see Bowser! I told her we weren't allowing any visitors- not that we do, but you get the idea, -and she just waved this...spear with some string on it at me, and suddenly I was launched out of there by lava!"

 _So Bowser doesn't have the Thread,_ Luigi thought, both relieved and freshly terrified. They were now facing someone who could bring lava up through castle floors like a living volcano.

"Well, we're actually against that woman, too," Luigi said. "She has something we need, so, as soon as we've got it, you can deal with her however you want."

"Really? That's awesome because, I... I really don't want to face her again..." Larry muttered the last part.

Several more explosions happened. "Was that six?" Peasley asked. "I counted six."

In an almost perfect semi-circle, the other six Koopalings landed around them in rapid succession, in similar states of pain and confusion.

"We're just gonna go..." Luigi said, already walking away.

Once the pair was out of hearing distance, Dimentio teleported next to them.

"Did you get all that?" Luigi asked. "Did the chick Larry described sound familiar?"

Dimentio's teeth and fists were clenched, but he relaxed them before letting an eerie smile slide onto his face. "Yes, actually."

He gazed at the castle up ahead. "Her name is Innui. You could say that we have some-" He paused and chuckled. "Bad blood."

"Oh," Luigi said, instead of running the hell away. _If looks could kill, I'd be roadkill,_ Luigi thought.

"How bad?" Peasley asked, unperturbed.

For a brief moment, Dimentio's hands flared with bright magic. "Let's just say that armor won't protect her from the amount of buried rage I'm going to unleash when I see her." He laughed again, louder. "Like years worth of whitewater from a dam, I'm going crush her! Onward!"

* * *

Smoke, dark and heavy, flowed from the seven holes in Bowser's Castle. Hot ash fell like rain, stinging any skin it hit. And yet...

"It's too much smoke to just be from those explosions," Peasley muttered, slowing down slightly from their brisk pace. They were almost to the castle doors.

Luigi glanced at Peasley, then back at the fire. "So you think there's a larger fire inside?"

"Well, it's fire fighting fire, with the flame segment," Dimentio put in. "I wouldn't think there was a tsunami inside. Why would it matter, anyw-"

The castle's windows and the tar between the bricks glowed bright orange for a moment, before rapidly turning red. Then fire expelled itself from the the windows and various holes in the castle with an ear-shattering BOOM.

"...That's why it matters," Peasley said with a cough. "Seeing how the building is structured, it won't take long until it falls."

Glass rained down in red hot shards the size of a fist. A large Bowser-shaped object flew from a new hole in the castle and fell somewhere near the Koopalings.

"Well, then," Luigi said, shaken. "That...happened."

Instead of flying out of the building in an explosion, Bowser Jr. scurried out of the castle doors and crashed down in a sooty, panting heap.

"Great," Peasley said with deep sarcasm. "The little ball of evil is alright."

"Well, it's really not our problem right now, so let's just step over him and get in the castle," Luigi said, adjusting a couple dials on his gauntlets.

"You want to go in there?!" Peasley gasped. "The whole thing's on fire!"

Luigi looked back and gave his partners a smug grin. "Oh? Did I not mention? One of the new features I added to my L-Brand Gauntlets allows them to absorb fire. Observe!"

He did a smug march to the door of the castle- nudging Bowser Jr. aside with his foot -and opened it. The door's inner side was coated in flames, but when Luigi pressed his hand against it, the fire was sucked in soundlessly.

"That's great," Dimentio said flatly. "Why didn't you use that when you set the Gloomy Woods on fire?"

"What? Oh- Um." Luigi's face turned red as he searched for an explanation. "I...panicked."

"That doesn't matter right now!" Peasley put in. "What does matter is that we have a way to get into the castle, so let's go before it crashes down!"

Luigi and Dimentio nodded and the trio carefully entered the castle.

* * *

The castle was hotter than a scorching desert sun. The air quavered in the heat and embers flew about. The only rest from the constant heat were the brief moments where they encountered one of the Koopaling-shaped holes in the walls, and, even then, smoke poured from them and ruined the air. Various minions were strewn about, either burnt, bloody, or unconscious from heatexhaustion. They were carefully ignored, but still uncomfortable to think about.

Progress was slow but anxious. The trio looked everywhere for any sign of their antagonist, but their efforts were fruitless. lmost an hour later, sweaty and exhausted, the trio came to the throne room, and carefully looked through the large doors before coming in.

A woman in bright blood-red armor was splayed on Bowser's throne as if it were a couch- most likely because of it's enormous size -with a spear leaned against one of the arm rests. The spear had a glowing red thread wrapped around it, near the point. She was talking to someone- or something, -in pink.

"...So there's really nothing you can do for me at this point. You can go back to Echo with my thanks," she finished, her voice muffled by the helmet.

"Really? That's great because-" the figure began.

"Just go."

"...Okay." The figure disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Luigi turned to Dimentio. "Is that Innui?" he asked in a whisper.

"Yes," he answered in a growl. "There's no point in trying to surprise her. Let's go in."

 _We're dead_ , Peasley thought.

The door creaked open, and Innui's head whipped to look over. She flipped up her visor to reveal a tan, shocked face with red slitted eyes. "Dimentio?" she gasped. She stood up and smiled. "It's been years! What are you doing-"

Dimentio's fist slammed into her jaw, knocking her backwards. He stood in front her, both hands glowing purple and yellow. Luigi and Peasley were as surprised as if they had felt the blowthemselves. Because he had teleported (or flew extremely quickly), no one had seen the punch coming.

Innui looked at him with a nervous smile. "Hey now, I know you never pull your punches, but that's no way to treat your best friend!" She paused. "What...happened to your arms?"

"Innui, I may have been your friend, but now you're nothing more than someone standing between me and the Thread," Dimentio said, with no patience or false kindness.

Her smile turned into a deadly glare. "Oh, you're still mad about that, aren't you?"

"How could I not be?!" Dimentio demanded.

Peasley whispered to Luigi, "Do you have any idea what they're talking about?"

Luigi shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Innui held her hand towards her spear, and it flew into her grasp. "Well, I'm not going to give you the Thread, Dimentio." The air gained heat and the Thread glowed brighter as the tip of her spear caught fire.

The two began to circle each other menacingly.

"You know, I'm shocked you've so easily submitted to being some coward's lackey," Dimentio said. "Especially considering how you treated me when you thought I might have been a threat!"

"Might have been?! You had gone insane! You never talked to anyone, and all night, Gladesman and I could hear you doing dark magic!" She shook her head. "Besides, what are you doing with this... fat man and mutated woman?"

"Did she just- Oh, she's not getting away with that!" Peasley shouted, drawing his rapier.

Dimentio snapped his fingers twice, and two opaque yellow walls rose around him and Innui, trapping both of them in a small makeshift arena.

"Are you serious, Dimentio?!" Luigi cried. "You're really doing this? She's got a spear and the Flame Segment, and you have...magic and the Nature Segment in Dimension D. How are you supposed to survive this?!"

"I agree," Innui put in. "With the three of you it might have been a fair fight." She flipped down her visor. "Too late now, though."

She thrust her spear at Dimentio, but he dodged to the right and cast two magic missiles at her. She was hit by both, but was unfazed as the blows erupted into fire that harmlessly dissipated. She shot a fire ball from her spear that grazed Dimentio's side, catching his cloak on fire. When he stopped to try to put it out, Innui thrust her spear again. This time, Dimentio teleported and was gone.

"Running away?" Innui laughed. "You're such a- What in the world?!"

Leaves and long branches had sprouted from the wooden handle of her spear and began wrapping around her wrist. Dimentio reappeared with the glowing Nature Segment in his hand. He had a blurry green outline and floated above her.

"So you defeated the Gladesman, eh? Shame," Innui breathed, struggling as the branches began to solidify around her arm and reach her neck. With her free arm, she flipped up her visor. Her eyes glowed bright orange, and she breathed fire over the branch, burning it to ash. "What did you think that would do?"

There was a horrible creak as one of the supporting pillars next to Innui began to slip, the tar holding the bricks together beginning to melt and fall.

"Distract you," Dimentio said with a horrible smile.

Innui gave Dimentio one last terrified look as the pillar crashed down on top on her.

Dimentio gently floated down to the ground and dismissed the yellow walls. He knelt down next to the fallen pillar and began rooting through the bricks.

Luigi ran up to Dimentio. "Are you okay? She lit you on fire!"

"I... I think I'm alright," he said distantly.

"How'd you use the Thread like that, anyways? That was really cool!"

"You think so?" Dimentio laughed. "Well..."

Peasley sighed and crossed his arms. _I can't believe this! You just watched someone you used to be friends with get crushed by a giant pillar and you..._ He shook his head and watched the pair, unwilling to move or get involve.

He was suddenly hyper-aware of the heat. "Have you found the Thread yet?" he called over.

"Yeah, it's right here!" Luigi said, holding it in the air.

"Then let's get out of here," he replied. "Before we burn to death."

* * *

The figure in pink watched as the trio teleported out to the front of the castle.

"So, they have two?" she muttered to herself. "I'd better tell Echo and the Prince...later."

She listened to the conversation:

"So, the next Segment is pretty far to the east- Are you alright, Peasley?"

"...I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You seem upset at something..."

"Just a bit. It's nothing."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3: Soulsend, Part 1

The group of makeshift heroes made their way east towards the Life Force Segment.

"So, why's it called the Life Force segment?" Luigi asked Dimentio as they traveled airborne. "We already got the Nature Segment, you'd think that would count for life force."

"The simplest way to put it is that it should be called the 'Magic' Segment," Dimentio said. "We call it 'Life Force' because there are some people who evolved on our planet that need magic to survive."

"Oh. So, would you say that giant lavender bubble over there would be where the Thread is?" Luigi asked, pointing around Peasley's silent body.

Dimentio stopped and stared at the bubble. Half in the ground, it made a translucent dome around a fortress.

"Er... Yes," Dimentio muttered. _How did I not notice that?!_ he thought, astonished at his own ignorance.

After a few moments of flight, they landed just in front of the bubble. "You think it's safe?" Luigi asked.

Dimentio poked the bubble and found that his hand went through it as if the barrier wasn't there. "Seems safe enough to me."

He caught Peasley's glare. He smiled back, sickly sweet. _My, how the tables have turned!_ he thought.

"This Segment should be a cinch, so let's get going!" Dimentio said, floating through the barrier. Luigi shrugged and followed. Peasley rolled his eyes and entered.

In the bubble, the fortress appeared sky blue with an odd white outline. Peasley noticed that Dimentio and Luigi both had the same outline. He didn't.

He also noticed a sudden, dull pain in his head and that the air felt stale, as if he were in an air-sealed box and it was starting to run out of air. _I hope I'm not getting sick,_ he thought. _It's already been hard enough with both Luigi and Dimentio being so irrational..._

He looked up and saw that his partners had already continued on. Shocked, he ran after them.

The doors to the fortress were turquoise and glimmered as Luigi pushed them open. The first room was dark and uninviting. Its walls and floor were a deep ocean blue, and the walls were lined with portraits of various, completely unrelated people and weapons both familiar and completely alien. Peasley noticed two things in common in the portraits: they all had ice blue eyes and the names underneath each painting were all those of royalty. He shuddered.

When the trio was halfway through the long room, the door at the other end opened and a short girl in a blue servant's outfit stepped through, approaching them fearlessly. She also had a white outline.

"Hello, there," she said calmly. "I take it you are the three heroes mentioned in the prophecy?"

"Uh... Yes?" Luigi said, unsure of what else to say.

She grinned. "Oh, good! My master, Soulsend, wrote a note for you." She handed Luigi an envelope with a wax seal.

Luigi opened the envelope and read the letter inside: "'Dear three heroes: Greetings. If my servant has not mentioned it, my name is Soulsend. I am the lord of this fortress, and the high Prince's second in command. I wish to give you a path around any unnecessary violence. If you come to the highest tower of the fortress, unarmed, led by my servant, and give me the pieces of the Thread in your possession, I will not harm you. However, I will be forced to bring you to my liege and whatever he does with you is out of my control. Please consider this offer. With hope, Soulsend.'"

Luigi stared at the letter for a few seconds, then folded it back up and put it in his overalls pocket. "I think we'll have to, er, politely decline."

The girl looked shocked, then disappointed. "Are you-Are you sure?" She saw the trio's expressions. "Oh, okay," she sighed. She mumbled, "He was so polite, too..." She sullenly walked back out of the room.

"What kind of heroes does this guy think we are?" Luigi said, astonished. He looked at Peasley and almost jumped back. "Woah, are you okay?! You're so pale!"

Peasley blinked. He had been lost in thought again. "What? Oh, I...I don't know. It's kind of hard to breathe, but I think I'll be fine."

Dimentio snickered. "I forgot to mention something about Life Force. If there's a high concentration of it in any one place, and if someone who can't use magic is in it... They'll slowly suffocate."

"What?!" Luigi demanded. "So Peasley and I are dying in here?" He paused. "Wait a second, I feel fine. Why am I alright? I can't do any magic!"

"It's probably because you can use lightning. Anyway, Peasley, you'll probably be fine. There's a lot less than lethal levels of it, unlike where I used to live," Dimentio said calmly.

"Probably? I'll _probably_ be fine?" Peasley growled. "How could you have possibly forgotten this crucial, crucial detail?!"

"Woah, there! There's no use in getting riled up," Dimentio replied. "I just didn't think it would happen this way."

Peasley couldn't think of anything to counter, so he just scoffed. _I can't believe this! And he laughed, too! He knew this would happen, there's no doubt about it,_ he thought, fuming.

"Um... Let's just keep going and hope for the best!" Luigi put in. "No point in fighting now that we're here."

There was no response from either party other than following him onward.

* * *

Things only got worse as they progressed. The Life Force only got denser the deeper into the fortress they advanced, so it made Peasley's headache worse and made it harder to breathe.

Not only that, but he kept thinking he heard someone muttering right by his ear. He didn't mention it- he didn't want to make his partners think he was insane, as well as ill, -but he heard the small voice say the following before becoming silent:

"Interesting... Fearless, this one... I wonder what drives him... A shame, though..."

Otherwise, the fortress seemed to be silent. They went unattacked through several halls, an armory, and, strangely enough, a room filled with cloth and sowing supplies.

"What's all this doing here?" Luigi wondered when they took a brief pause in that room.

"Maybe Soulsend has a hobby?" Dimentio suggested.

"Who cares?" Peasley muttered. He was tempted to take the Flame Segment and light the whole place ablaze out of frustration.

Then, they came to a big, grayish-blue, empty room. The room was utterly featureless and without furniture. Perhaps if the fortress was a populated castle instead, it could have been a ballroom. But without anyone there, it was eerie and gave the feeling of being watched.

"I don't like this," Peasley said. "There's something wrong here."

"Well, we _are_ in a giant magical fortress," Dimentio said snarkily.

"Uh, I think I'm gonna take Peasley's side on this one," Luigi said nervously. "This would be the perfect place to ambush anyone who came in."

Dimentio laughed. "There's no one in here! If there were, we'd have seen them by now."

"True," Luigi agreed. "But I still don't like it."

The trio came three-quarters of the way through the room when they heard a short whoosh of rushing air. Dimentio stumbled briefly, then fell over.

"Gah, Dimentio!" Luigi cried in surprise.

He knelt down next to him and Peasley loomed over. Dimentio remained on the ground, completely unconscious. There was a small, blue feathered dart in his neck. Considering the amount of clothing covering the spot, it was shocking that he had been hit there.

"I knew it!" Peasley shook his head. "He didn't believe us."

"That's not important right now," Luigi admonished. "Either there's some automated function in this room, or someone's here with-"

A similar blue dart hit him in the same spot. Luigi swayed for a moment, then fell over.

Peasley stared for a moment at his partners on the floor, then fear set in. _Oh, no, no, no! What can I do?!_ he thought, beginning to panic.

He looked around fruitlessly for an assailant. _It can't be some machine, because Dimentio was standing up and Luigi was kneeling. So there must be someone invisible in here!_

He heard another whoosh, then it stopped right next to him. He looked down the side of his body. The dart had gotten caught on the shoulder of his cape! Suddenly, an idea sprung to mind.

Peasley's knees buckled and he fell to the ground, feigning sleep. After a long moment, he heard footsteps approaching. They stopped only a foot away from his face.

"Hello?" whispered a voice. "Helloooo?" it called again, louder. "Anyone there?" it said at normal speaking volume.

The person walked around him a couple times. They snapped their fingers twice. They began to laugh. "Wow! Echo said this stuff was potent, but geez!" They laughed louder. "This is perfect!"

"The prince will be so proud of me," they continued, dreamily. By the volume of their voice, Peasley could tell they were looking away from him. "He'll say, 'Oh, Soulsend, you really are the most capable, most intelligent, and most cunning of my minions!'" He adopted a deep voice for the prince. "And I'll reply, 'Oh, truly? You mustn't flatter me so, your Highness!'"

Peasley opened one eye. Soulsend appeared to be a short, redheaded man in a blue traveling shirt with black, knee-length pants, and, of course, a white outline. Peasley couldn't see his face, but he seemed to be lost in a daydream.

"Perhaps he'll host a ball in celebration of our victory! Oh, how wonderful that would be. He'd take me by the hand and say, 'Shall I have this dance?'"

Peasley resisted the strong urge to scoff. At any rate, the lord of the fortress seemed to have distracted himself. _Well, maybe I can just..._ He slowly stood up.

"...Then, while we dance he'll lean close and say, 'You mean more than all the worlds to me, Soulsend. Do I, to you?'" He was still facing away, now hugging himself.

Peasley leaned down and grabbed Luigi by the back of the shirt. After a moment of consideration, he reluctantly grabbed Dimentio, too. He began to slowly back away from the daydreaming man. Still, there was something odd about the way he moved...

Then, Soulsend twirled around, and stopped looking right at Peasley.

Now, Peasley had never seen any stop-motion films, as they hadn't come into popularity yet. If he had, however, he would have thought that that was how Soulsend moved and blinked. This was because he was a giant, living doll.

"Uh," Peasley said. "Hey there."

For a moment, Soulsend looked embarrassed. Then, anger filled his odd cloth face. "You! You... Must have laid an enchantment on me to steal my wits!" he yelled.

Peasley stared at him, feeling the pressure in his lungs and the pain in his head. The doll-person had cartoonish eyes with ice-blue pupils.

"I... What are you talking about?" Peasley asked. "Whatever. You're Soulsend. You have a piece of the Thread, right?"

Soulsend tilted his head. "Yes, and you have two other pieces." He smiled as if he had recalled a pleasant memory. "You know, I'm still willing to settle this peacefully! Just put your sword on the ground and-"

Peasley dropped his companions, unsheathed his sword and pointed it at him. "How about this: you give me the Thread, and I don't rip out your stuffing. Sound good?"

Soulsend's face darkened. "Oh. So you can't be reasoned with." Two machetes materialized in his hands. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way!"

The doll side-stepped around Luigi and Dimentio, then lunged at Peasley. He dodged to the side, turned around and stabbed at Soulsend's back. Metal clashed on metal when Soulsend turned andraised one of his machetes to block the attack. For a moment, there was an intense power struggle before Peasley pushed his assailant backwards. He went in for another stab and Soulsend jumped to the side and slashed downwards. Peasley threw himself on the ground and rolled out of the way. Soulsend's machetes got stuck in the floor tiles and Peasley took the opportunity to knock him to the ground with a harsh kick. With a sword point to his neck, Soulsend looked up, terrified.

"Now," Peasley panted, half from exhaustion, half from suffocation. "Give me the Thread before I cut off your creepy little head!"

"I don't have it with me," Soulsend growled. "But I'm not going to let you (-even-) near it."

Then, the blue faded from his eyes and they closed.

Peasley stared at him, then nudged at him with his foot. No reaction. "Did you fall asleep or something?" he demanded.

He sheathed his sword and sighed. _Well that was a waste of time,_ he thought. He glanced at his two, still sleeping companions. _What am I supposed to do now?_

He walked over and continued to think, tapping his foot. _It won't do to leave them here. I somehow get the feeling that I'm not done with that Soulsend creep yet._ He looked around, almost expecting something to come and attack him. _Maybe I'm just paranoid. I mean, that was him, afterall-_

Something death-gripped his ankle and pulled it out from underneath him. The back of his head hit the floor and shocked his whole head, and dazed him for a second. When he could think straight, he looked for what knocked him over.

Luigi was staring at him from the floor with a fixed grin and ice-blue eyes. (ooooshit o0o)

"Oh, I'm sorry, this isn't very fair is it?" he said cruelly. "After all, you can only inhabit the one body and I can use so many..."

Peasley started to back away and try to get up. "What- Luigi, are you okay?"

Luigi laughed and stood up, swaying slightly. "Oh, you don't understand? Didn't you see the lavender barrier? I can possess anything- or anyone -within it!"

"...Soulsend?" Peasley said breathlessly.

Still wearing the creepy, uncanny grin, Soulsend replied, "You got it!" He clumsily grabbed the dart in his neck and yanked it out. "Yeesh, what are these things on my hands? They're so heavy! And what do these dials mean?" He heard the door behind him swing open. Peasley, carrying Dimentio, had run out. "Hey! Where are you going?!" (smart)

* * *

Rage. Fear. Confusion. Words like these could barely begin to describe the violent cocktail of emotions shaken within Peasley's core as he sprinted at top speed with Dimentio in his arms, bridal style.

When he thought he had put enough distance between him and his unfortunate lover, he threw himself against a wall. He turned Dimentio's unconscious body so that he was grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Wake up, wake up!" he commanded, shaking him violently. "Come on, don't leave me like this, you sleeping pile of human garbage!"

There was no response.

Peasley wanted to scream in frustration. Of course this had to happen! He _had_ to be stuck lugging around the one person he hated the most at the moment, meanwhile he could hardly breathe and his head was being pounded with pain.

He heard a crack of thunder from somewhere behind him. "Woah!" Luigi- or Soulsend, the vile creature, -yelled. "This body is amazing!"

 _I can't keep running for much longer,_ Peasley thought. _There has to be somewhere I can hide!_

He looked around, taking in his surroundings for the first time. He had taken the door opposite of where he came in when he started his escape, so everything was new. Something caught his eyes: A green-ish yellow door on the east side of the room he was in. _This will have to do!_

Peasley put Dimentio over his shoulder and cautiously entered the room.

The first thing he noticed was that everything, ceiling to floor, wall to wall, was yellow. From custard to bright daffodil, the furnishings and decorations were painted or upholstered yellow. It was such a stark contrast to the now dreary blue that at first Peasley thought he was dreaming.

The second thing that sprung out, was that it was the opposite of what you'd expect in the fortress of an evil, monstrous creature. It was like a lush parlor of a rich artisan or business person. It had a plush love-seat and a fainting couch side by side in the middle of the room. In front of those was a fire place with a warm fire, and upon its mantel were various trinkets and bobbles. There were two doors, and one had light coming from it. Peasley wondered if they were as yellow as this room.

Third, he noticed, he could breathe with ease and his headache was gone. Dimentio's body didn't have a white outline around it, either.

"What...is this place?" he muttered. He found himself sliding down along the wall until he was slumped down on the floor, out of exhaustion. He sighed. He knew that Soulsend was still after him, but was satisfied that he wouldn't think to check here.

He set Dimentio's body down beside him, and sudden rage bubbled up inside him."This is all your fault," he muttered, knowing it wouldn't do anything, and probably wasn't true. "If you had some caution or sense in you, you would have agreed with us and we could have found another way through this stupid fortress to the Thread! (true, dimentio is an arrogant butt)

"And for that matter," he continued, not noticing his volume growing louder. "If you weren't so selfish and just realized that you can't have Luigi, everyone's lives would be much easier!" He slammed the floor with his fist. "You know, I wish that monster would have possessed you instead, then I could have just-"

The door with light coming out from it opened to reveal a woman in a bright yellow noble woman's dress, with contrasting curly brown hair. She held a frilly yellow fan in one of her delicate, gloved hands. Her eyes widened when she made eye contact with Peasley.

He nearly jumped to his feet. "Oh! Miss- Ma'am- Madame! I didn't mean to intrude in your room, I just-"

The woman giggled, hiding her mouth with her hand. When her laugh subsided, she said, "It's quite alright... Handsome."

Peasley's face turned bright red. _Oh, no. I don't need this right now!_

She held her hand out to him, but not to be shook. "I am Lady Sibella of the Null Empire. A pleasure, to be sure."

He stared at her for a moment before saying. "I'm Prince Peasley of the Beanbean kingdom."

Her eyes widened again as she quickly curtsied. "Oh, do accept my apologies, your highness. How rude of me to assume you were a lower class..."

"It's fine." He reached behind him for the doorknob. The Lady quirked her head quickly to the side and Peasley heard the lock in the door click into place.

"Surely you don't have to go so soon after you've come?" she said pleasantly. "Come, sit down with me, please."

Peasley tried to unlock the door quickly but the lock would only move back into place. _Damn it! I hate magic, I hate magic, I hate magic!_

"Okay," he said instead, as politely as possible.

He picked up Dimentio and laid him down on the fainting couch. He sat down on the side of the loveseat closest to the door. Though the loveseat could have easily sat both of them far apart enough to be comfortable, Sibella sat down close next to him.

"So, what brings you to Soulsend's fortress?" she asked, putting a hand on his.

He drew his hand back. "I'm after the Universal Thread," he said bluntly.

She didn't appear shocked. "Oh. So, is that...masked man over there your companion?" She seemed somewhat uncomfortable around Dimentio.

"... In a way," Peasley said.

"Aren't there supposed to be three of you?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well, about that..."

She gasped. "Oh, did Soulsend possess him? I'm sorry about that," she shook her head solemnly. "He's so awful about that. And cruel, too. Never lets me out anywhere anymore."

"Oh?" Peasley said, feigning interest. "That's a shame."

"You know, I don't want to live with him. I only do because..." She paused and looked around the room. "My father was indebted to him," she nodded to herself. "Yes, that's it," she murmured.

"You know, you'd be doing me a great favor if you took him out." She looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. "I'd be willing to tell you his weakness-"

"Oh, yes, that would help tremendously!" Peasley said, perking up.

"-For a price." She smirked as Peasley's smile fell. "Oh, don't worry. I don't want money or anything of that sort. All I want in return is a kiss."

"Oh. Well, how about I kiss you after I get the Thread?" he offered.

She pursed her lips. "Well, I guess that will do." She grabbed his hands again, gripping them tightly. "Now, listen closely. At the top tallest tower at the north end of the fortress, Soulsend's real body lays in a deep sleep. If you kill his real body, he won't be able to possess anyone anymore and he will be defeated. Now, the Thread is wrapped around the hilt of his sword; as far as I know, his body is holding it. When you take the Thread, the barrier around the fortress will disappear. However, you will have only thirty minutes to escape once you kill him, because this fortress is made with his magic. Otherwise, the floor on which we stand will evaporate...and I wouldn't want to be up that high when that happens."

After waiting to see if she was done, Peasley said, "Thank you very much. I should be going before things get worse than they already are."

He wrenched his hands free of her grip, and quickly grabbed Dimentio and slung his body over his shoulder. When he went to unlock the door, it came open with ease.

"And your highness?" She said. "Good luck."


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4: Soulsend, Part 2

The tallest tower at the opposite end of the fortress... Of course it's there, Peasley thought as he ran through the fortress. It hadn't been long until Soulsend had started catching up with him again, but fortunately Peasley was much faster than Luigi by nature. _Thank goodness Dimentio's so light, otherwise, I'd be done for!_

It had occurred to him that he could have left Dimentio with Sibella, but that seemed like a bad idea. He didn't think that he would react well to waking up in a strange environment with a strange woman. And by "react well", he meant "start attacking people".

At last, he reached a tall spiral staircase at the north end of the fortress. It began in a large outdoor courtyard and went up into a narrow, blue brick tower. He paused and looked up it. There was nowhere to go but up. If he failed, there was no getting away from Soulsend.

"Hey, just what do you think you're doing?!"

Peasley turned around. Soulsend stood at the other end of courtyard, still possessing Luigi's body.

 _And so begins the mad dash,_ he thought.

He sprinted up the steps, at first going one stair at a time, then two, then three. He heard Soulsend's steps thudding up after him, and made himself move faster.

The density of the Life Energy seemed to grow exponentially, and Peasley began to see dark spots in his vision. _Just a little bit longer, just a little bit longer!_ he urged himself. _If I don't make it, all three of us will fail, and the world will fall into the Prince of Null and Void's hands!_

Thunder clapped behind him, and a bolt of lightning hit the ceiling above him seconds after. He didn't dare look back.

"Stop! Get back here!" Soulsend yelled, beginning to sound desperate, almost pitiful.

Peasley didn't waste the breath saying it, but he thought, _There's no way in hell I'm stopping now! You deserve exactly what you get!_

He saw lavender light above him. He felt his legs start to shake and burn from exhaustion. Another lightning bolt was shot at him, and it hit the far wall.

Then he saw it: a small, grey-blue room. A man's body in extravagant clothing lay on top of a stone bed, his hands clutching the hilt of a sword as if he were in a coffin to be buried with it. Purple light burned from the hilt of his sword so bright it was nearly blinding.

Peasley dropped Dimentio uncermoniously in a corner of the room on his short way to the body on the bed. He stumbled, gasping for breath before collasping against the table. He rose with shaking legs and drew his sword.

"No, wait!" Soulsend cried, at the door of the room.

Peasley plunged his sword into the body's heart.

He heard one last gasp behind him before he turned and saw Luigi's body slump to the ground. When he looked back at the table, the body had turned to dust, leaving only the sword in its place.

He gingerly removed the Thread from the hilt of the sword. The light faded, and he could breath again.

His knees buckled and he collasped to the ground, gripping the Thread tightly and breathing heavily. Even now his body felt weak and frail from what it had endeavored. He saw the light of the setting sun from one of the windows.

"Ugh, what happened...?" Luigi groaned, sitting up. He saw Peasley shaking like a leaf and stumbled over to him. "Are you okay? What happed to you? You look awful!"

Peasley looked up at him and smiled. "I...I got the Thread! And you're okay!"

Luigi raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean I'm okay? I feel fine. Except that I feel like I just ran a mile, don't know what's up with that." He shook his head. "Anyways, what happened? All I remember is that Dimentio got knocked out by some dart or something. Where is Dimentio?"

Slightly irritated, he pointed at the corner where he had dropped the jester off. "I'll...I'll tell you what happened later, for now, we need to get out of here. The fortress will disappear soon..." His voice sounded weak and gravelly.

"Okay. Can you walk?" Luigi helped him stand.

"I think I'll be fine."

Luigi grabbed Dimentio and slung his body over his shoulder. "Let's go."

* * *

"...And that's how it all happened," Peasley finished.

Dimentio blinked and looked around. It was nighttime in some grassy area. There had been lots of them on the way to the fortress, so this one could just as well be any other. He looked over to his left. Peasley and Luigi were sitting facing each other around a small fire.

"So, do you ever plan on making good on your promise with that lady?" Luigi asked.

"Psh, no. She kind of creeped me out," Peasley said with a small laugh.

Dimentio sat up and rubbed the back of his head. He tried to remember what happened before he woke up. The last thing that came to mind was them just walking through a large room, then darkness. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Oh, good, you're awake!" Luigi smiled at him. "You got knocked out, I mean, we both did, but there was this whole thing- Peasley can explain it better than I can."

After a brief explanation, Peasley handed Dimentio the Life Energy Segment. "Can you put this in Dimension D?" he asked.

"Yes, of course." Dimentio snapped his fingers and the Thread disappeared. "You said that Soulsend was first possessing some kind of doll-person?"

Peasley nodded. "That was terrifying in and of itself."

"There's actually a race of living doll people where I come from," Dimentio said. "They're called the Soffthred. There's some myth that a king needed an army to fight for him because he was losing a war and running out of people to recruit, so he enchanted some dolls to fight instead. I forget how the rest of it goes, but it's probably not even true." Dimentio shuddered. "You're lucky that Soulsend gave up that body when he did. You can only kill those things if you burn their entire body, otherwise they can just sow themselves back together."

"...You're kidding," Luigi said with disbelief. "You have to be. That's just not a thing that happens!"

Dimentio laughed. "You'd be surprised."

"I can't believe we've gotten three parts of the Thread in one day!" (Just one day? You should go back and double check the time that has passed, I feel like they had a break somewhere to sleep or something) Peasley said, eager to change the subject. "I thought this would take much longer. Maybe along the lines of a month."

"Yeah, I thought so too," Luigi agreed. "Tomorrow we'll get the Time Segment and take down that Prince guy!"

"You know what, Peasley?" Dimentio said. "Until now, I almost thought you were going to be, oh, some kind of useless burden!" he laughed. "Funny, right?"

There was a tight, tense silence.

 _Oh, now you've gone and done it,_ Luigi thought, pulling his hat down slightly.

In his mind, Luigi imagined a small measuring device, similar to a speedometer, labeled "Peasley's Rage-O-Meter". The little arrow went swiftly from "Built Up Irritation" to "Ready to Actually Murder".

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Peasley said with a strained voice. His left eye was twitching.

Dimentio, master of sensing the mood, replied, "I said, until now-"

"I know what you said, okay?!" Peasley yelled. He got up and unsheathed his sword, then threw it on the ground. "Fight me! Right now! No weapons, no magic!"

Dimentio stood up and, instead of levitating, stood on the ground. He looked surprised, but Luigi could almost see that he was trying not to smirk. "Alright, I'll take your challenge!"

Luigi quickly jumped between them. "No, no, no! Are you two crazy? We're supposed to be working together, not trying to kill each other!"

"I don't care!" Peasley shoved Luigi out of the way. "I have put up with you long enough, jester. Now that it's come to this, I'm not backing down!"

"Whatever you say, your highness," Dimentio said.

Peasley swung at him, but Luigi grabbed his arm and Dimentio's shoulder and electrocuted (you might want to use a synonym, electrocution means that you are zapped to death; it shares the same root as execution) them both. It was nothing deadly, but it was still enough to burn for a few seconds after.

"I didn't want to have to do that," Luigi said gravely. "But you can't just go off like that."

Peasley looked at the ground for a moment. Then, he turned around and started walking off.

"Wait, where are you going?" Luigi demanded.

"I want to be alone for a bit," Peasley murmured. "Don't follow me. I'll be back when I'm ready." He walked off into the night, disappearing from sight.

"Hmph, I'm not surprised," Dimentio said nonchalantly.

"Would you shut up?" Luigi groaned. "Oh, no, he forgot to bring his sword with him, too!"

* * *

Away from the fire, Peasley found that the night air was cold and uninviting. It was dark too; he could barely see a few feet in front of him.

He wasn't going any direction in particular, just away. He felt ashamed now that the anger had worn off. He shouldn't have let himself get so worked up by just one little comment. Besides, it had been a kind of compliment, hadn't it?

 _Yes, it was a compliment, but a backhanded one,_ he thought. And he hadn't been upset over only that. It was from built up problems that had suddenly come to a head. He had every right to be angry- in his opinion, at the very least, -and yet...

"We meet again, your highness," purred a familiar voice.

Sibella was standing a few feet to Peasley's right. He would have missed her completely if she hadn't spoken up, though her dress shimmered in the dim moonlight. She was hiding something behind her back.

"Oh. Greetings, Lady Sibella," Peasley said, lacking excitement.

She smiled and stepped closer to him. "Have you come to finally fulfill your promise?" she asked hopefully.

 _Seriously?! Right now?_ Peasley thought. "I, um, I'm a bit busy at the moment-"

She giggled. "Oh, don't be shy, your highness! Why else would you be wandering out in the middle of the night?"

Peasley's face flushed. "Well, actually, I was just..." His mind was blank for excuses. Then, an idea struck him.

He stepped up to her and kissed her on the forehead. "There. I've filled my end of the promise," he said with deep self-satisfaction.

Sibella wasn't quite as happy. She pursed her lips and complained, "I know you're not empty-headed, your highness! I guess if you want to get something done, you have to do it yourself." She grabbed Peasley by the front of his shirt, tugged his face down to hers, and kissed him on the lips.

Peasley shoved her off of him. "Hey! Don't do that!" he commanded. "I already kissed you. You never specified where you wanted to be kissed, so I was completely in the right. You have no right to force me to kiss you!"

Sibella's face was a deep red, but she looked happy. "My deepest apologies, your highness. Perhaps I can make it up to you?"

She brought the item behind her back into view. At first, the dark obscured what it was, then it became clear: it was a sword in a sheath. When she pulled it out, Peasley recognized it as the sword that was with Soulsend's body. Had it been glowing blue before?

"Oh, I already have a sword. Besides, I'm experienced with that type, whatever it is..." Peasley said, shifting backwards. The glow was oddly transfixing.

Sibella giggled. "But, it's a very special sword. It was the key to Soulsend's power: it gives the wielder the strength of ten men and lightning-quick reflexes. Some even say it gives the ungifted the ability to use magic."

Peasley thought for a moment. It would be very easy to say he had just found the sword and keep Sibella out of the story. Not only that, but enhanced strength and speed, with magic on top of it all? _Who would be useless, then?_ he thought mischievously.

"Well, I think you've got yourself a deal, Lady Sibella," Peasley said. "There's no hidden price for it, right?"

"None at all! It's yours," she said.

Peasley picked up the sword and weighed it in his hand. It was obviously meant to be used with two hands, but that felt awkward since he was so used to using his rapier. _It's shockingly light!_ he thought. Oh, the look on Dimentio's face will be-

His hand went numb and ice blue light flashed behind his eyes. He heard an awful laugh- no, felt it as if it were in his own head. It was the same voice he heard whispering in his ear in the fortress, cold and cruel.

"You fool! Did you really believe any of that?" it taunted as the numbness traveled up his arm.

"What-What's going on?" Peasley struggled to let go of the sword, but it felt like some otherworldly force was keeping his hand around the hilt.

"I'm sorry, your highness," Sibella said sincerely. "But I am still loyal to my lord. I lied to you before. You did not defeat Soulsend by killing that body- he in fact does not have a 'real body'. Or, at least, a human one."

"So, you're saying that..." He looked down at the glowing sword in horror.

"That's right, idiot! That body was just a decoy. Now, you're my puppet until I say otherwise," Soulsend jeered.

The numb feeling filled Peasley's chest and spread throughout the rest of his body. "You... You won't get away with this..." Peasley gasped. He felt light headed and nauseous. "Luigi will... He'll..."

"I think your little friends will have a hell of a time fighting back without killing your body!" he laughed again.

Peasley's vision became ice blue as the rest of his body went numb. The last thing he heard was Sibella saying, "Once again, I'm very sorry..."

Soulsend took a deep breath and looked around. He tried moving his new limbs- always a bit tricky the first time around -and grinned.

"Hey, this is better than I thought it would be!" he cheered. He saw Sibella's guilty look. "Sibs, don't look so glum! This time (-around-), things will be much better."

"You said that last time," she muttered. "I'm tired of living like this. Tricking people and watching them get hurt over and over."

Soulsend scowled. "I don't think I'll ever understand you. I give you so many nice things and you still aren't happy."

Sibella looked at the ground, unresponsive.

"I'll be back in an hour with the three pieces of the Thread they have, okay?" he informed. He grinned eerily. "Until then, don't move an inch!"

* * *

Luigi sighed and tried again. "Sometimes, Dimentio, when you say something, it will hurt their feelings even if you didn't mean for it to. You should still apologize because it will make them feel better and it will make them stop being mad at you."

"First of all, don't talk to me like I'm a child," Dimentio said curtly. "Second, I didn't say I didn't see a reason why I should apologize, I said I wasn't going to. There's a difference."

"Dimentio, I swear, if you don't say at least something along the lines of an apology when Peasley gets back or by the time this whole prophecy thing blows over," he paused and looked him dead in the eye. "I will kill you. And it will hurt."

Dimentio swallowed. "Oh. So it's like that," he muttered.

Luigi blasted the makeshift fire pit with another jet of flames. He was exhausted, and, frankly, just wanted to be home. He didn't want to think about horrible people trying to overtake his world, or cryptic phrases about Dimentio's past from his old "friends" or monsters that could possess people on a whim. A small, wishful part of him hoped that when they got to the next piece of thread that they would just hand it over without any fuss.

"Well, speak of the devil," Dimentio said.

Luigi looked behind him. Peasley was slowly coming into the light. He was looking down, so his face was concealed by his hair.

"There you are!" Luigi said, standing up. "I was beginning to get worried. You shouldn't have just stormed off like that, especially without...your...sword...?"

Peasley slowly looked up at him with a fixed grin and ice blue eyes.

"Greetings, heroes of prophecy," Soulsend answered.

Luigi almost fell over backing away. "You! But-But how? Peasley defeated you!" He glanced back at Dimentio, who looked equally confused.

Soulsend laughed. "Oh, sure that's what you all thought- I'll have to thank Sibella for that one later, that was clever, -but I'm a little harder to kill than that." He paused. "Come to think of it, nearly impossible."

"Okay, but what are you doing in Peasley's body? We already have your part of the Thread, so there's no point in bothering us anymore," Luigi said pointedly.

Dimentio nodded. "Yes, and don't you know what we did to the other holders of the Thread?"

Luigi grimaced. _Okay, Dimentio, how are we supposed to kill this guy? He's possessing Peasley, and he just said he's nearly impossible to kill,_ he thought.

Soulsend smirked. "I'm impressed. I thought there would be a lot more pathetic groveling from the two lesser heroes."

Luigi's face flushed. Instead of succumbing to a flashback to every single time he had been called inferior to his brother, he said, "Just what do you want, Soulsend?!"

"I want the Thread, and to bring you back to my liege. Dead or alive, that is," he shrugged. "Doesn't matter much to me." He paused thoughtfully, then muttered. "Actually, this guy's a prince, right? I like royalty. Plus, I could make an alliance with my prince in the name of his kingdom- Beanbag or whatever it was, -and that would definitely make him happy." He grinned at the heroes. "Okay, three things-"

"We heard you already," Dimentio said flatly. "And the answer, again, is no."

Soulsend scowled deeply. "Fine. Don't take my kindness." He raised his sword in both hands. "I guess it had to come to this. Die!"

He slashed diagonally at Luigi, who jumped back. Luigi quickly took off his gauntlets, then swung at his adversary. Soulsend took one hand off the hilt of his sword and caught Luigi's fist. In a swift motion, Soulsend wrenched his arm so that Luigi's balance was lost and he fell on his back. While his opponent was stunned, he stabbed down and aimed for the stomach. Dimentio grabbed Luigi and pulled him away, but half a moment too late. The sword made a harsh wound in his side and spattered blood on the ground.

Dimentio helped the shaking Luigi up. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Ugh, I... Dimentio, there's a giant gash in my side, what do you think?" Luigi groaned, clutching the bleeding wound.

After a brief moment of thought, Dimentio said, "I'll handle this. You go look for something to cover that." He snapped his fingers, and Luigi disappeared to Dimension D.

"How touching! You know, I don't think I've seen something that nice in quite a while," Soulsend said with mock sympathy.

"Do you do anything but cause trouble and make people uncomfortable?!" Dimentio snapped.

Soulsend's eyes widened and he seemed hurt. Then he smirked. "So now it's just you and I. Dimentio, scoundrel, murderer, and masquerader, versus the grand Soulsend-"

"Scoundrel, murderer, and body-stealer," Dimentio finished.

"You know, the prince has been dying to see you." He chuckled. "Get it? Because he's probably going to kill you after a few long months of torture?"

"Could you tell me something?"

"Yes?"

"Who the hell is he?!"

Soulsend stared at him. "You. You don't know?"

Dimentio shook his head. "Don't have a clue."

"You literally ruined his life and you don't know who he is?" Soulsend demanded, pointing his sword at him.

"I wouldn't say I ruined his life, he seems to be doing pretty swell," Dimentio said defensively. "I'd rather say I'm _about_ to ruin his life. Or end it, preferably."

"Ugh, why am I even talking to you about this?! You'll meet him soon whether I get my way or not." He got back into a battle stance. "Let's get this over with!"

Soulsend slashed horizontally at Dimentio, who teleported behind him. Dimentio raised his hand to use magic, then had a thought, _No, he needs to stay alive so we can save this world._ He was slightly disgusted by his own heroism.

Instead, he turned himself and clocked Soulsend across the face, then teleported out of the way of the sharp, swinging retort. When he tried to go for a second hit, he was hit in the stomach with the pommel of Soulsend's sword. He was almost hit again before he flew above his opponent. Soulsend grabbed Dimentio's ankle and swung him downward, and he hit the ground on his side. Before he could move out of the way he was grabbed again, this time by the collar, and pulled close to Soulsend's stolen face with a sword against his neck.

"You know, it's a real shame," Soulsend crooned. "If my liege didn't hate you so damn much, I'd love to take your body for a spin. You're strong and fast, and I love your sense of style."

Dimentio shuddered. He tried to teleport away, but found he was stuck fast. It was weird enough to have some kind of spirit compliment him on how much it wanted to possess him, but Peasley's voice saying it made it worse.

He was tempted to use the Nature Segment again, to perhaps use the grass around his antagonist's ankles to snare him, but he held back. When he had used it on Innui, it felt less like his conscience decision to use it, and more like something making him do it. Like a voice whispering into his mind. The thought was enough to make him shudder again.

"If you give me the Thread now, I won't spill your guts on the ground," Soulsend offered.

"Okay, but, if you do kill me, you can't get the Thread," Dimentio said, trying to think of a way to get out of his situation.

Soulsend tilted his head. "What... What do you mean?"

"I have the Thread in my pocket dimension. You don't know how to get there, so you can't get to the Thread. If I die, you can't get there, so you can't get it," he said slowly.

"Well, then..." He paused, thinking hard. "Give me the Segments you have now! Or I'll-"

"Or you'll what? You'll kill me?" Dimentio said, starting to enjoy himself a little.

Soulsend shook his head and gritted his teeth. "No, wait. If I kill you, I win. But I don't get the Thread? If I let you go, I lose, and I still don't get the Thread?" He shook his head again. "I don't get it! If only Sibella was here..."

Two different streams of thought came to Dimentio at once. The first one was: _Man, this guy is an idiot. It's almost like he's not used to thinking or something. It's as if an animate object came to life._ He glanced down at the sword near his neck. Most normal swords didn't pulse and glow bright when their user talked. _Like a sword, for instance._

The second one was: _Wait, what am I doing here, dangling like an idiot? I can just duplicate myself and fight that way._

Soulsend was still muttering to himself. "She'd know what to do. I shouldn't have ignored her feelings before. She's probably upset now."

Dimentio duplicated himself and used the duplicate to punch Soulsend across the face.

Naturally, Soulsend lost his grip on Dimentio and was sent tumbling sideways. With a new objective, the masquerader was filled with renewed confidence. He felt his hands glow with purple magic, but held himself back from going all out.

"Y-You! You bastard!" Soulsend sputtered. "Using duplication to trick me... What a cheap tactic!"

Dimentio laughed. "You know, it's funny. You use fancy words to cover up the fact that you're a sword that gained a consciousness."

Soulsend's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"Because you're fucking stupid," Dimentio said flatly.

 _Thank goodness that shot in the dark went well,_ he thought, relieved.

The fight resumed with Soulsend slashing wildly at Dimentio. He dodged rapidly, laughing as he went. He even used more duplicates of himself to add to his enemy's confusion. Then, in one moment of tension and frustration, Soulsend stabbed downward and stuck his sword- or his true body, that is, -halfway into the ground. Dimentio kicked him in the stomach, knocking him back, his hands wrenched from the sword.

As he fell backwards, the ice blue color faded from Peasley's eyes. He landed roughly on the ground, unconscious.

Dimentio let his duplicates disappear as he dropped from the air to the ground. His shoulders sagged and he breathed heavy, shaking breaths. He looked at the still-glowing sword in the ground, and Peasley laying not far from it. His breath hitched when he saw the prince's right hand. Something told him wrists should not bend like that.

He knelt down near Soulsend and said, "I know you're not gone. Can you talk, sword?"

The sword's light pulsed as it said, "I'm impressed." It had a shrill, irritating voice. "You not only figured out my weakness, but beat me, too!"

"It wasn't that hard," Dimentio lied. "What can you tell me about the Prince of Null and Void?"

"I will reveal nothing!" it shrieked.

Dimentio rolled his eyes. He formed an opaque yellow box around the sword- and some of the dirt around it -and sent it to Dimension D. He then snapped his fingers, bringing Luigi back from there.

He wasn't looking good. His face was pale, and the wound wasn't looking any better. He gasped, "I couldn't- Couldn't find anything to cover it up. Why don't you have anything to wrap wounds with?"

Dimentio gritted his teeth. _I never thought I would need it,_ he thought.

"Can I help you?"

Dimentio turned his head. There was a red-headed Soffthred standing there, just in the light.

"I-I'm good at healing wounds," he explained. "And- though it may not be my place to say so -it looks like you might need that right now."

* * *

A pink figure- or a figure in pink, one couldn't tell from a distance -held out a long, sharp sword to Lady Sibella. "Here it is! The prince's rapier," she exclaimed.

"Oh, thank you!" the lady cried. "This will do nicely, yes."

The figure stood there awkwardly. "I um. I don't really understand why you wanted me to bring you this. You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to-"

"No, no, I don't mind," Sibella reassured. "Could you tell me what kind of sword Soulsend is?"

The figure thought for a moment. "No, I don't think I could."

"Exactly. No one can. Not even the Prince of Null and Void." She smiled conspiratorially. "I'm going to bring this to the prince and tell him Soulsend has died."

"Why? Don't you have some sort of loyalty to him? I know you told Prince Peasley your father owed him money," the figure asked, confused.

Sibella scoffed. "All of that was a bunch of lies to draw sympathy. I just..." She looked off wistfully. "I used to like him quite a bit."

After a long silence, the figure said, "Well, good luck, my lady."

"Thank you, Lily."


End file.
